We are to blame for how women are treated in India: Onir

Feb 13, 2013, 12.00AM ISTTNN[ Iti Shree Misra ]

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Onir was in Lucknow recently for the cause of indie cinema, but the director has gone back with the promise that he will be back in town again, to shoot 'Vedaa'. But there's more on the filmmaker's mind than his next project.

Reacting to the allegations against Indian cinema of promoting gender stereotypes and the objectification of women in films, Onir admits that there may be an element of truth in it.

"What have we been showing in cinema since ages? That the hero comes in a dashing way and teases the heroine, slaps her and subdues her and she falls desperately in love. Imagine, we are taking small children, boys, to see such films, so what are we feeding them? That you misbehave with a woman, tease her, pass lewd remarks on her, pinch her and she'll be yours. Same is the case with these item numbers. A woman is thrusting her body in your face and there are 50 men surrounding her and leering at her. Is that not insulting to a woman? It's very easy to say that don't victimise Bollywood, but the fact is we are indulging in commodification of women on screen. In a recent super-hit film - I don't want to name which - the hero is shown holding on to his hand because he can't stop himself from pinching the woman on her waist. Now, this is what is seen by a kid, and this is what he thinks is right. So, yes, we are also to blame to quite an extent for how women are being treated in our country. What is important is to look within and think whether or not we are responsible for this bias towards women," he says.

While talking about meaningful cinema, Onir, an independent filmmaker himself, says things are not very easy for directors like him in Bollywood.

"Not just Bollywood, there are hurdles everywhere. You may make a film with a lot of passion, but you need money to publicise it, to market and eventually have it screened. And for people like us, that becomes a humongous task. Inspite of all this talk of different cinema, there are actually very few takers for it. People only want the run-of-the-mill popular cinema, with the same rehashed stories of boy-chasing-girl. The moment you give them a story like My Brother Nikhil, people turn their backs on you. I'm thankful to Sanjay for supporting me in this and producing such films. Same was the case with I AM. People just didn't want to touch the film because it showed child abuse. They know that such things happen in the society yet they didn't want to see it on screen. My question is, why not? Why brush such topics under the carpet? Why not have them out in the open and expose such things and create awareness? That's what we want to do and people have a problem with that."